Date:	Friday 21 June 1940
Time:	16:10 LT
Type:	Lockheed Hudson Mk I
Owner/operator:	233 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N7246
MSN:	ZS-X
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, near Solsvik, off Utsira, northwestern Rogaland county -   Norway
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Leuchars, Fife
Destination airport:	RAF Leuchars, Fife

Narrative:
Lockheed Hudson Mk.I N7246 (ZS-X) 233 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Norway. All four crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/977): "Hudson N7246 on air operations in the vicinity of Sotra near Bergen, Norway, 21 June 1940. Flying Officer C A Wallis: report of death. Sergeant C G M Wilson, Sergeant G W E Walton and Squadron Leader D Y Feeny: missing presumed dead".

On the 21st of June 1940 Charles Wallis and his crew took off from RAF Leuchars at 1.20 pm in Hudson Mark 1 N7246 ZS-X in company with another Hudson from 233 Squadron along with two aircraft from 224 Squadron for an attack on the German battleship “Scharnhorst” and eight enemy destroyers which were in the coastal waters off Norway.

The flight located their objective in position LXOX 2543 on course 065° True, speed 25 knots. An attack was carried out with two 500 lb AP (Armour Piercing) bombs on a bearing of 310°, from just under the cloud base at 10,000 feet, both of which overshot the target by 200 yards. Intense flak was encountered from ships in the area and the formation was engaged by between forty to fifty Messerschmitt 110 and 109 fighters. Grey smoke was observed coming from Charles Wallis' aircraft which crashed in flames into the sea off Utsira at 4.10pm.

The victory was claimed by Oberleutnant Bertold Jung of 5/JG77 who was flying a Me109, his second of an eventual seven victories before he was shot down by flak and captured at Crete on the 12th of September 1941. The other aircraft from the squadron were badly damaged in the attack but managed to return.

The crew was: -
Squadron Leader Dunstan Yves Feeny, (Pilot) RAF 32076, age 27, posted 21/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
Flying Officer (Navigator) Charles Andrew Wallis, RAF 39180, age 24, killed in action 21/06/1940, buried in secret 29/6/1940 (see below). Re-interred in 1947 at Haugesund (Rossebo) Var Frelsers Cemetery, Norway
Sergeant Charles Grant Macnab Wilson (Wireless Operator), RAF 519827, age 23, posted 21/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
Sergeant George William Eric Walton, RAF 568459, age 20, posted 21/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action.

The bodies three crew members were not recovered, and are Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

The father of Charles Wallis received the following telegram dated the 22nd of June 1940: -

"Regret to inform you that your son Flying Officer Charles Andrew Wallis is reported missing as the result of air operations on 21st June 1940. Letter follows. Any further information will be immediately communicated to you. Should you receive news of him from any source please inform this department."

An Air Ministry report dated the 16th of April 1946 stated: -

"Towards the end of June 1940 some fishermen found the body of an English airman drifting in the sea. The fishermen took the body from the sea and conveyed it to Solsvik on the island of Sotra. The people of the island made preparations in secret to bury the airman. A coffin was made and the Padre at Landro, three miles from Solsvik, was asked to conduct the ceremony. On the day of the funeral, the 29th June 1940, three small vessels put out from Solsvik. On the deck of the first ship lay the coffin bedecked with flowers and a Norwegian flag. The other two vessels were crowded with people who came to follow the English flyer to his resting place. Two hundred people were present at the funeral. The grave has been well kept by the local authorities and people volunteer to keep it neat and tidy (in Fjell Churchyard). Flying Officer Wallis' body was re-interred by the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) at its present location in 1947.

The reported crash location of Solsvik (also known as Sollsvika) is a settlement in the municipality of Fjell in Hordaland, and is located north of Sotra at approximate co ordinates 60°27′33″N 4°57′52″E

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1977 p 45)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) AIR 81/977: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502428
3. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/233_squadron.html#2106
4. http://www.hambo.org/kingscanterbury/view_man.php?id=102
5. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/32.htm
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1269898/feeny,-dunstan-yves/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2186565/wallis,-charles-andrew/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1531793/wilson,-charles-grant-mcnab/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1809579/walton,-george-william-eric/
10. https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solsvik
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utsira
12. Ross McNeill, 'Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941)'

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Oct-2019 21:06	Dr. John Smith	Added
02-Oct-2019 21:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
02-Oct-2019 21:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
02-Oct-2019 21:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
04-Oct-2019 06:27	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]